Brexit committee chair: Fixing the exact time and date of Brexit will create significant difficulties

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Emma Haslett

The influential chair of the Brexit Committee has slammed a key amendment to the critical EU Withdrawal Bill, saying the government's decision to enshrine the time and date of Brexit in law could create "significant difficulties".

Launching the Brexit Committee's report on the Withdrawal Bill today, Hilary Benn said today the government's amendment to the Bill, which ensures Brexit will take place at 11pm on 29 March 2019, will be problematic.

We need to maintain flexibility as the negotiations proceed, but ministers are now proposing to remove from the Bill the power to set different exit days for different purposes and replace it with a single exit day.

This would create significant difficulties if the negotiations were to continue until the 59th minute of the 11th hour, as the Secretary of State suggested to us might happen.